Most basic collection of Guns

[TheLastBoyScout]

For actual self defense from anything from one BG to a small group, from up close to far out, I'd feel fine with an AR (preferably 20", to get the extra oomph from the cartridge) and a Beretta 92 (military issue) , Glock 17(police issue around here), or Colt 1911, as long as I had plentiful full-cap mags. If someone is out of range of the AR, I have no problem with live&let live, and if someone or a group of someones are closer in, I like the capacity of the AR compared to an M1 or M1A (my problem with the M1A is mag cost, and ammo weight. A battle load of 100 rounds in 5 mags for an M1A would cost like $250 for the magazines, but a load of 7 AR mags for 210 rounds of capacity can be had for between $175 and $210 if you look.) The important thing here is to have the same things as a lot of people have, for commonality of parts, mags and ammo.

As far as survival hunting goes, my 10/22 would fill the bill nicely for small game, seeing as post SHTF I doubt there will be any game wardens to complain about its being a semi-auto.

I don't know much about shotguns and hunting/main battle rifles. I'll just say that I'd be most comfortable with police/military issue/popular designs, for the reasons in the first paragraph. That said, I believe the US military issue shotguns are remington 870 and Mossburg 500 12 gauges, and these are fairly common civilian choices. For a hunting rifle, a 7.62 NATO remington 700, or a 7.62 M1 or M1A, or a .30-06 M1 would be what I would consider. The M1 and M1A could possibly replace the AR up top, but the boltgun is the only one of the 3 that I could legally hunt with in PA.

I didn't mention any ComBlock rifles merely because logistics could be a problem, as I see very few people around where I live with AKs and SKSs at the range, and one of my main criterion is commonality of parts with other people/ organizations.

 

[J-Man]

Good list! I like the idea of having both my bolt-gun and semi-auto battle rifle in .308. That way ammo can be swapped in an emergency. I agree with the idea that a carbine in .223 is great for keeping carry weight down (both in gun and ammo) but I still like the idea of a round (.308) with some punch. Definately has whatever range you would ever want to engage anyone at and retains enough power to go THROUGH a lot of things. I know that if I was ever fired at I would take cover behind whatever was available imediately (wether that be a tree, car, building, wall, etc.) and I think most others would do the same. With the .223 weighing half that of the .308 you can carry more of it but if I have to use more than a few rounds per person I shouldn't be firing at them anyway- and one can easily carry 80+ rounds of .308 on them.....

 

[JShirley]

Most basic would be a .308 autoloader and a 9mm handgun. If you can add another arm, a .22 LR pistol.

 

[alcmaeon]

I'd add a 357 mag to it. 38 and 357 are common (and 38 is cheap) and a handgun that can handle 2 rounds is a plus. With a few exceptions I have kept myself to 9mm, 357 and 45 for cheapness and availability of ammo, (though I do have the odd 44mag, and a couple of those old Soviet handguns and revolvers).